Who is Jennipher Kacha Namuyangu Byakatonda? Flash Uganda Media looks at her biography, age, husband, family, tribe, and relationship with Dr Byakatonda Abdulhu, Betty Bigombe, Kibuku County, Kibuku District, early life and education of the current Minister of State for Local Government in Uganda.
Jennifer Namuyangu, also known as Jennipher Kacha Namuyangu Byakatonda, is a politician and environmentalist from Uganda.
She is a member of the National Resistance Movement and the current Minister of State for Local Government.
Early Life and Education
Jennifer Namuyangu was born in Kibuku District on July 27, 1968. She is a Pentecostal and married to Dr Byakatonda Abdulhu the elected Workers Member of Parliament.
Before transferring to Iganga Secondary School, where Namuyangu completed her A-Level studies, she studied at Kibuku Secondary School for her O-Levels.
She was accepted to Makerere University and in 1993 she earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. She also earned a Master of Science in Agroforestry from the same institution in 1996.
Additionally, she has a certificate in tree breeding from the Zimbabwe Forestry Commission in Harare, Zimbabwe, as well as a certificate in Tree Seed Center Management from Denmark.
Her other credentials include a certificate in computer science.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Jennifer Namuyangu served as the National Resistance Council’s (the parliamentary body at the time) Youth Representative for Eastern Uganda from 1994 to 1996.
She then worked as a Lecturer at Nyabyeya Forestry College in Masindi District from 1997 to 1998. She subsequently began working for the Ministry of Lands and the Environmental Forestry Department from 1998 to 2001 as a Seed Source Development Officer.
Namuyangu rejoined politics in 2001 and won a seat in the parliament as the Women’s representative for Pallisa District. She was also appointed as Minister of State for Industry and Technology from 2003 until 2006.
In 2006, she was chosen as the Women’s representative for Pallisa District once more thus serving as a representative from 2001 to 2011. On June 1, 2006, she was named State Minister for Water Resources, a position she held until May 27, 2011.
As part of the creation of Kibuku District in 2010, Pallisa District was divided in two. Namuyangu then ran as the parliamentary representative for Kibuku County, Kibuku District during the 2011 General elections. She was significantly defeated by Saleh Kamba.
She was removed from the cabinet during a reshuffle of the cabinet on May 27, 2011, and Betty Bigombe took her position.
She served on the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development’s Committee from 2013 to 2016.
Namuyangu ran as a candidate on the NRM Party ticket in the Kabweri County Constituency during the 2016 parliamentary elections. She prevailed and was elected into office. She was also concurrently named State Minister for Local Government on June 6, 2016.
Controversies
Jennifer Namuyangu is one of the many ministers in the government and National Resistance Movement (NRM) that lost in their party primaries and disobeyed President Museveni‘s order to not run as an independent in 2011.
She instead announced her intention to run as an independent parliamentary candidate.
She ran for the “Kibuku County” seat against fellow NRM member Saleh Kamba, who was also the party’s flag bearer at the time and the sitting MP. She lost significantly to her and later filed a petition to the high court against the Electoral Commission and Saleh Kamba.
Records indicated that Namuyangu prevailed in the High Court, however, the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment and ordered her to pay her opponent’s legal expenses expended in both courts.
The arrest warrant was issued on April 23, 2014 by Mr. Muse Musimbi, the assistant registrar of the High Court in Mbale, in order to have her pay the money or face bankruptcy procedures.
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